When Austin, Texas duo Scott Raulie and Jonathan Richerson created their debut album as Millennium Resorts, an EDM and Synthwave–influenced outfit, they had a specific vision in mind for how best to listen to the project.

Preferably in a dark room, with a hi-fi stereo or a good pair of headphones, and your favorite vice. There’s even a built-in intermission––the seventh track is titled “Intermission,” after which the listener is encouraged to grab some fresh air and a refill before returning for the final three tracks, which total more than 25 minutes in length.

“It’s the idea of going into a theater and having that experience. Music can be the same way,” says Raulie. “Albums like Dark Side of the Moon or OK Computer, albums like those are meant to be listened to in their entirety. It’s not passive listening; it’s not something that’s in the background. This is an experience so when you sit down with the lights off, you’re just focusing on the music, you’re going to get the true experience. You should be in another dimension, basically, that the music can impact you in. I’ve seen it work.”

The debut project, In the Key of David, was released in late January with ten tracks, beginning with “Alpha” and ending with “Omega.” But it’s the songwriting and production that’s captured as much attention as the front-to-back listening experience, along with some cut-down radio edits released as singles.

“We really enjoy a lot of the textures in EDM music, especially the moments in between the drops where you have these epic ethereal build ups,” Raulie says. “Both of us are drummers so we came up with beats that are mostly more aggressive and we find more interesting than just constantly four-on-the-floor.”

The two of them also wanted to bring back epic guitar solos, and combine them with EDM and Synthwave textures. The two artists have been influenced by an array of groups, like Radiohead, Pink Floyd, My Bloody Valentine, Slowdive, The Mars Volta, Depeche Mode and NERO. Raulie and Richerson even spent nearly a decade in a U2 tribute band.

“He was the fake Edge and I was the fake Larry Mullen Jr.” Raulie says. “We found a lot in common and decided we wanted to do our own music project. One thing we really wanted to do was make EDM but try to make it a little more interesting, not so repetitive and predictable. That’s what inspired it.”

Raulie wrote the skeleton of the album on a piano, and then he and Richerson turned it into guitar-driven electronic music. They wanted Richerson’s guitar playing to stand out in the music, while also making a cohesive concept album. And it’s up to the listener to make their own interpretations of the meaning or themes behind it.

“A lot of people think ‘Eternal Rest’ is about death and it really isn’t, but it kind of is,” Raulie says. “People listen to the lyrics and they get their own ideas.”

That track clocks in at nearly seven minutes as the eighth track on the full album, while the newly-released radio edit has been trimmed to four-and-a-half minutes. It begins as something pensive and hesitant and then grows foreboding and aggressive, but it’s a lullaby at heart, Raulie says.

“It’s definitely a lullaby, in the tradition of classic dream pop,” he says. “It’s a dream pop tune at least for the verse and then it takes a huge turn and gets more into a darker EDM-type sound.”

Millennium Resorts has also released radio edits for “The Big Show” and “Happiness,” and the group expects to release several more singles this year.

“We’re just both very passionate about music, we’re not naive to think we’ve created something completely original but that’s what really drives us,” Raulie says. “We didn’t do this unless it’s adding something to the music that’s out there. There’s all this great EDM music and there’s all this great really psychedelic inspired stuff, this dream pop and shoegaze. We’re adding our own little quirks and attempting to make it epic and we hope people appreciate the experience of listening to the full album.”

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